Unfortunately, Tom passed away in early January 2004Manchester peace activist Tom Hurndall, 21, suffered a gun shot to the head on Friday 11 April 2003 while acting as a human shield with the International Solidarity Movement in Gaza. Thomas is now comatose and hooked up to a respirator and was recently flown back to the UK.
Tom Wallace, ISM, said the incident happened in a residential area and local children had come to watch the protest, as they often did. He said shots were being fired over the protesters' heads from an Israeli watchtower nearby. "The activists and all the women and kids decided to move away," Mr Wallace said. "He [Tom] was standing in front of the women and kids to protect them."
Khalil Hamra, Associated Press photographer, said the nine activists were walking towards Israeli tanks on the outskirts of the Rafah refugee camp, near the border with Egypt. The tanks patrol a road used by the army for incursions into the camp and the activists wanted to set up a protest tent on the road to block them. Soldiers opened fire when the group was about 200 yards away from three tanks. Tom, who was wearing a fluorescent vest, and another activist tried to get children out of the line of fire, said Hamra.
Fellow activist Alison Phillips told the Manchester Evening News: "Tom got this little boy out of the way and then he saw these two little girls. He turned back to encourage them to come and was bent down when he was shot in the back of the head."
Tom's visit to the Middle East saw him document in photos the plight of ordinary people. A talented and promising photographer, his work has featured in the national press and at a recent benefit to help his parents meet the œ20,000 bill for flying him back to the UK. The benefit, organised by friends at Manchester Met's "Pulp" magazine, steered clear of political sloganeering, instead paying tribute to another innocent victim of the conflict.
For more information check out http://www.tomhurndall.co.uk
Martin Shaw, an environmental campaigner who spent several years in Manchester before moving to Spain, was taking part on Sunday 1 June 2003 in a road blockade against the G8 meeting in Switzerland when police cut the rope that held him and he fell 20m to the ground. He is in hospital in a serious but stable condition with a few broken bones.
Martin was part of a 15 person international collective blockading a bridge in Switzerland to prevent G8 delegates passing from Geneva to Lausanne. Martin and another protester were hanging at opposite ends of a rope stretched across the road with a banner with the slogan "G8 Illegal". Traffic police arriving at the scene apparently panicked about the build up of the traffic and cut the supporting rope of the two protesters despite repeated warnings about the danger. "The police turned up pretty quickly, but didn't really know how to deal with the situation," an unnamed witness said. "They started arresting the activists, dragging them away but did not know what to do about the rope. The drivers in the traffic were getting quite upset and eventually the police just decided to cut the rope."
Martin, a very experienced climber, fell 20m onto a stony river bed, suffering multiple fractures. People managed to rescue the second climber by holding on to the other end of the rope for 15 minutes so that she didn't fall as well, although she was later delivered to the hospital suffering from shock.
Martin currently remains in hospital in Geneva where he has undergone a 3hr operation on his vertebral injuries and ankles. The doctors have stated that his back will slowly recover, but it looks like unlikely that he will be able to walk properly again as a result of his leg injuries.
Donations are needed to help get Martin back to Barcelona (estimated at thousands of Euros). Details were unavailable at time of going to press but we understand Manchester Earth First! (0161 226 6814) are setting something up.
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